WarioWare D.I.Y.

WarioWare D.I.Y.

Reviewer: Louis Bedigian

Game development is sort of like filmmaking with a much harsher learning curve. While anyone can grab a cheap camera and attempt to bring a story to life, it takes so much more effort to design a game. That’s not to say that filmmaking is easy, but it is definitely more user-friendly.

Occasionally, professional game developers try to remove the barriers to game design by developing a game with homemade creations in mind. This could be something as simple as a level editor, or something as complex as the RPG Maker series, which allows consumers to design their own role-playing games.
If those concepts sound intriguing, then Nintendo might have developed the perfect game for you: WarioWare: D.I.Y. This do-it-yourself adventure is packed with pre-made mini-games to play through, but players will quickly discover that those games are merely icing on the cake. The cake, as it turns out, is something you have to mix, bake, and frost yourself. And when you do, the results are quite amazing.

No Programming Required
During the training stages in WarioWare: D.I.Y., players will frequently encounter a common term used by game developers: AI (artificial intelligence). Unlike the AI they work with, which must be written from scratch using A+ mathematical skills, this game doesn’t require you to know much about the details of real-world programming.
Instead, WarioWare: D.I.Y. uses a deep (but easy to comprehend) system that involves a series of pre-programmed selections. With those selections, players can develop a five-second mini-game that features their own personal drawings, a few frames of animation, sound effects assigned to specific elements, an original score (which can be pieced together using instruments, quirky audio effects, or sounds from classic NES games), and basic touch screen interactivity.
If the five-second timeframe sounds crazy, then look no further than WarioWare’s other offerings: this is not a series that’s built on length. It’s a short-and-sweet, ultra-quirky franchise with challenges that will earn smiles from series veterans and baffle the minds of newcomers.
“Wait, so you’re telling me I have to tap the hand on screen to make it pick this guy’s giant nose?”
Yes, that’s exactly what WarioWare is telling you. But in WarioWare: D.I.Y., you don’t have to settle for silly and potentially snotty mini-games because you can make your own.

The Creation Process
After running through the first batch of pre-made mini-games offered in WarioWare: D.I.Y., I was a bit concerned about the process of making my own mini-games. It’s not that I didn’t want to, but having played with other creation tools, I was afraid it’d be an arduous process that was only fun when the game was complete.
That’s what makes WarioWare: D.I.Y. so different from the rest. The game provides a simplified Photoshop-style tool that lets you draw whatever you want. There are dozens of colors and background tiles (including one that paints a flame and another that paints Mario-inspired bricks). Three pen sizes are available, allowing players to draw (almost) as precisely as possible. To add even more detail, the image that you’re working on can be enlarged up to 16 times.
In addition to having a very well designed paint and drawing tool, the game contains a music creator that is really fun to use. Five audio tracks (four standard tracks plus one set aside for rhythm) are available. The drum set alone is pretty extensive: you can choose to use a standard percussion set, or use electric drums, toy drums (which is essentially an amusing set of sound effects), beat-box drums, Asian drums that provide an exotic jingle, or choose from 14 sounds made from pots and pans. My favorite is the 8-bit drums, which includes the fireball and death sound effects from the old Mario games.
The other instrument types are just as varied: piano, organ, harpsichord, melodica, flute, wood flute, trumpet, saxophone, acoustic and electric guitar, bass, banjo, violin, marimba, vibraphone, timpani, and more sound effects-based instruments than could ever be listed here.

Not For Every Wario Fan
The only downside to WarioWare: D.I.Y. is that it’s not technically a true WarioWare sequel. Since players are expected to have fun creating their own games, the pre-made content amounts to half (or less) of what it should be. WarioWare games are never long, and they rarely have the kind of replay value of, say, a Mario game. But if you were hoping this would be a true successor to WarioWare: Smooth Moves for Wii, you might be disappointed.
If, however, you’ve always wanted to make your own WarioWare mini-games – or have had the desire to create any game at all – WarioWare: D.I.Y. is an impressive package that won’t let you down.

By gamezone

Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ Review

Pesky controls and irritating slowdown curtail the fun you'll have in this zombie shooter.

If there is anything that can turn even the most banal of arcade shooters into a grotesquely adorable slugfest, it's zombies, and Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ is loaded with an impressive array of undead. It also boasts a great sense of humor and combines fast-paced shoot-'em-up gameplay with twisted fairy tale characters to create a more unique experience. Unfortunately, control issues, frequent slowdown, and a slew of other quirks often undermine your joyful zombie slaying, reducing Zombie BBQ to just another mediocre shooter on the DS.
Little Red Riding Hood's latest adventure opens in Fairy Tale Land, where a devastating zombie plague has turned the lovable denizens of folklore, such as Sleeping Beauty and Pinocchio, into gruesome flesh-eating zombies. You'll assume control of either Riding Hood, who is deeply fond of her machine gun, or Momotaro, who riddles his enemies with ninja stars, as you search for the source of the infestation to save the world. Though the simplistic, disjointed plot barely holds the game together, it still emphasizes Zombie BBQ's refreshingly dark humor, which should be a treat for fans of classic zombie films.

Gameplay is straightforward, spanning both screens with an isometric perspective and challenging you to plow through zombies as you advance through a stage. Zombies appear on either screen and slowly shuffle their way toward Riding Hood, who is positioned on the bottom screen on a horizontal, seven-panel movement field that you tap to dodge enemy attacks. You simply select a zombie or touch the screen in the general direction you wish to fire and hold the stylus down to shoot, while lifting the stylus reloads; if you get touched by a zombie or level obstruction, your health meter depletes, and if it diminishes entirely, the game is over. The lack of objectives, character ability growth, or even weapon modification is disappointing, but there is sufficient weapon variety to keep things interesting. Weapon icons are conveniently displayed on the bottom screen, which you merely tap to select, making weapon cycling fast and efficient--a necessity when a horde of zombies is stumbling your way.
The game's most fun aspect is its healthy zombie variety and inclusion of minibosses, which are steadily introduced as you progress. You'll encounter spitting zombies, slimes that cover the field in goo, creatures that lob objects at you, and even flying skulls and laser-projecting nutcracker men; you'll also notice creative, if simple, boss design that forces you to pummel zombie bosses while quickly memorizing their attack patterns in standard arcade fashion. Though defeating bosses can be exciting, there is very little depth or strategy involved other than memorizing these attack patterns or shooting the occasional exploding barrel, which is often oversimplistic and dull.

While slaughtering zombies should be quite enjoyable and extremely entertaining, poor controls can make it frustrating at times. When you tap Riding Hood to instruct her to duck, for example, the game will sometimes register the command as shoot and you'll end up as zombie fodder. Similarly, when you target a zombie that has approached your movement field, the game will often misinterpret this as a movement command and position you in the path of imminent danger. The poor controls are accentuated by a drastic leap in difficulty that occurs about a third of the way through; at this point, disposing of zombies requires more luck than skill due to cheap enemy attacks that block you into a corner, where you're forced to take damage from other foes because you're unable to move out of the way. Furthermore, some boss attacks or even environmental objects significantly obscure your field of view.

Despite the game's control errors and steep difficulty jump, its most vexing problem is frequent slowdown, which occurs whenever multiple enemies are onscreen in conjunction with gunfire or explosives. This slowdown is highly disruptive when you're dodging attacks, cycling between guns, or dispatching a large zombie horde that's dangerously close to surrounding you, because it slows the action to a crawl. It's also incredibly frustrating when the slowdown causes you to die, because the game only autosaves between stages, which forces you to restart the level from the beginning. The slowdown is also often accompanied by bullets that go through zombies without dealing any damage, or even by the occasional freeze.

Graphically the game's 3D environments are rather primitive, but they're adequate for a DS title, with colorful, slimy dungeons and moderately detailed enchanted castles to blast your way through. Zombies are usually 2D with 3D bosses and are sufficiently grotesque; they spout blood as they take damage, and you can easily spy beating hearts and fresh zombie brains spewing everywhere. Very peppy, exaggerated rock music supports the action without being too annoying, while ambient sounds, such as explosions and zombie gurgles, are sufficient if not spectacular.

You should find yourself soaring through Zombie BBQ's 21 stages in a few hours since each stage is about three to four minutes long, but this will depend on how much bad luck you're having with certain bosses and what difficulty setting--normal, hard, or extreme--you're enduring. You could go back through the game on a harder setting, but you may find anything other than normal mode absolutely grueling considering the rate at which you experience slowdown or die from poor controls. Three additional modes--Survival, Boss Attack, and Stage Select--offer a bit of fun if you enjoy slaying bosses in succession or revisiting a favorite stage, but they don't add any new gameplay aspects. There's also no point in completing the game a second time to achieve a high score because you aren't awarded points. While there's no denying that Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ is an occasionally fun shooter with a good sense of humor, its low replay value, finicky controls, and frequent slowdown may make it a more frustrating than pleasurable experience.

By Shiva Stella, GameSpot

Chrono Trigger Review

This perennial time-travel adventure is worth falling in love with all over again.

It's been more than 13 years since SquareSoft first released its time-travelling epic Chrono Trigger on the SNES. With an endearing cast of characters and a fantastic story that took place throughout the ages, it went down in history as what many would call one of the greatest games ever made. It was later rereleased as a part of Final Fantasy Chronicles on the PlayStation, and though it included several new features such as anime cutscenes and a detailed bestiary, it suffered from long and frequent loading times. The Nintendo DS rerelease includes new areas to explore, an all-new ending that better ties into its sequel, Chrono Cross, and all of the additions of its PS1 predecessor (minus loading issues), making it the definitive edition of Chrono Trigger.

When the Kingdom of Guardia gathers to commemorate its millennial anniversary, the young Crono celebrates by sleeping in. Roused out of bed by his mother, he rushes to the festivities to catch the public demonstration of his inventor friend Lucca's latest creation, and in his haste literally runs into Marle, a hyperactive girl who looks more than a little familiar and insists that he show her around. With little choice in the matter, Crono brings his new companion to Lucca's show, where an experimental teleportation device malfunctions, sending Marle through a rift in the space-time continuum. Armed only with a wooden sword and dangerously spiky hair, Crono follows Marle into the past to attempt a temporal extrication, only to begin a long and arduous journey to prevent a tragic future from unfolding.

Along the way, Crono and his friends encounter an exceptional cast of allies, including the heroic Frog, a medieval knight sworn to defeat the sinister Fiendlord who turned him into an anthropomorphic amphibian; Robo, a humanoid robot from the future with a penchant for gardening; and Ayla, the hotheaded and enormously strong chieftain of a prehistoric tribe. Together, these time trotters face down a memorable cast of villains, from the cold and calculating Azala, queen of a race of hyperintelligent dinosaurs, to Magus, the scythe-wielding sorcerer supreme better known as the Fiendlord, in their quest to defeat the evil entity known as Lavos. From beginning to ending (all 14 of them!), Chrono Trigger offers a deeply satisfying combination of storytelling and character development that few games have managed to top, and that even the most stone-hearted will find emotionally stirring.

To this day, Chrono Trigger is a fairly nonstandard role-playing experience due to a number of innovative design decisions, but this was especially true at the time of its release. Its combat system allows for your three party members to attack separately or to combine their skills to create double or triple techniques of enormous power. Given that enemies are not randomly encountered and instead appear to wander the various dungeons that you explore, it's very possible to skip the vast majority of your fights should you choose to. As a result, the world map, which is represented by an extreme birds-eye view of your party, can be peacefully explored without fear of ambush. Considering that Chrono Trigger deals with the concept of time travel, any decision you make can have world-changing--and often not immediately noticeable--effects on the future. For example, your every deed at the Millennial Fair in the very beginning of the game may potentially come back to haunt you not long afterward. This cause-and-effect gameplay forces you to consider the short- and long-term consequences of your actions, and is also used to great effect in completing side quests.

In addition to all of the bonus content originally added as part of the PS1 port, the DS version of Chrono Trigger includes an optional touch-screen control scheme, the Lost Sanctum quest hub, the Arena of the Ages monster battleground, a series of dungeons called the Dimensional Vortices, a revelatory new ending, and a polished-up retranslation. The touch-screen controls move battle commands from the top screen into the bottom to free up more space, and the new translation maintains the charm and gravitas of the original while reinterpreting some words and lines to give them a bit more meaning. The Dimensional Vortices and new ending offer additional challenges, new items, and story closure on several ambiguous issues directly relevant to Chrono Cross. The Lost Sanctum is an isolated region that exists in two different eras and is ultimately forgettable thanks to its unimportance to the story and the frustrating fetch-quest nature of its missions. The Arena of the Ages is a new area that lets you adopt a monster and train it to battle against other monsters for potentially useful items. As with the Lost Sanctum, the Arena serves no story purpose, and even the ability to pit your monster against a friend's via local Wi-Fi isn't enough to make it worth accessing regularly.
Visually, Chrono Trigger hasn't changed one bit throughout the years, and its rich, sprite-based graphics, beautiful vistas, and colorful spell effects actually look better than ever on the DS. Similarly, the epic and moving soundtrack brilliantly crafted by famed composers Yasunori Mitsuda and Nobuo Uematsu continues to amaze years later.
Chrono Trigger is a fantastic synthesis of excellent storytelling, game design, music, and gameplay that has withstood the test of time and should be considered required playing for any fan of role-playing games. Though its extra content is hit or miss and it's essentially a direct port of a game released 13 years ago, the DS version is easily the definitive edition of this masterpiece, regardless of whether Chrono Trigger is one of those games you've only ever heard of before or you're a dedicated fan who has played through it dozens of times.

By Lark Anderson, GameSpot

Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia Review

Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia improves upon its predecessor just enough to make it a fun, solid addition to the spin-off series.

Just over two years ago, Pokemon Ranger gave Nintendo DS owners an unorthodox spin on Pokemon with its unique touch-screen capturing controls. It turned out to be an enjoyable game, eschewing the franchise's traditional evolution and "Gotta catch 'em all!" tenets. With Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia, Nintendo gives more of the same, though with a few small but welcome improvements that add a little depth to the experience while keeping its quick pace.

You start out as a fresh-faced student at a ranger school, where you learn about the various aspects of taming and helping Pokemon in the wild. Like in the original Pokemon Ranger, there's no battling here: rangers and students instead strive to keep the peace between Pokemon and humans. You capture the critters as in any other game in the franchise, but in this game you do so by expressing friendly, benevolent feelings through a device known as a styler, and once you use the Pokemons' special abilities to help you, you kindly release them back into the wild. There's no Pokemon leveling up or evolution here. As you progress from student to full-blown ranger, you take on the job of stopping the fiendishly named Team Dim Sun criminal organization from brainwashing Pokemon to do its nefarious bidding. The entire concept sounds a little trite, and many of the story's surprises are predictable, but it's got just enough lighthearted mystery to satisfy a younger audience.

In any case, the real star of Shadows of Almia is its refreshing capture system. The core idea entails drawing a circle around the Pokemon you're attempting to capture. If it bumps into the line you've drawn, it gets destroyed and you have to start drawing again. If its attack hits your line, you take damage. However, where the last game required that you draw a certain number of consecutive circles around a creature (without interruption) in order to succeed, in Shadows of Almia you need to fill up an empty friendship gauge. One complete circle fills up the gauge a little bit, with the catch being that it gradually depletes if you wait too long in between scribble attempts.
These changes make the capture process a bit easier because you're not forced into an all-or-nothing situation, and they also add a hint of strategy. Instead of just scribbling circles as fast as you can, you're now employing an exciting stick-and-move strategy in some of the tougher encounters--lifting your stylus just in time to avoid a series of attacks or catching an especially quick Pokemon when it pauses briefly. Each Pokemon has different attacks and movement patterns (though a number of them are similar) such that almost every new monster encounter brings a unique capture experience and a slight level of intrigue and uncertainty. Save for the large boss encounters, each capture instance can be completed in tens of seconds. Therefore, capturing rarely gets boring thanks to its brisk and varied nature.

Any Pokemon you capture can be used for its special ability during other capture sessions. For instance, you can use a fighting-type Pokemon to enhance your capturing power or a grass-type Pokemon to slow down your target by causing it to sprout foliage. You can also use special abilities on the field as you explore Almia. Like in the last game, the exploring portions are less exciting than capturing, and they employ the same obstacle-clearing mentality. For example, you can't clear a stream without a Pokemon that can swim; if there's a boulder in your way, you'll need a Pokemon with a high-level crush ability to smash it. These parts get progressively intricate and sometimes require a little use of your noggin. But you'll also quickly learn that in many cases, either the Pokemon you need for especially taxing obstacles is close by or a unique-looking Pokemon encountered for the first time will come in handy later in whatever dungeon you're in. This takes away some of the challenge, but at least it saves you some of the frustration of backtracking just for one little critter.
Exploration has changed too: Shadows of Almia includes optional (but highly recommended) side quests. Bystanders will ask you to help find, rescue, or calm down their Pokemon, among other similar tasks. It's nice to take a break from your main Team Dim Sun-thwarting duties to wander around a bit and fill out your catalog of monster encounters, but the quests also offer you the opportunity to meet partner Pokemon--those that never leave your side until you substitute in another partner--and to power up your capture tool with a variety of offensive, defensive, and elemental bonuses. These additions help flesh out the game a bit more, and leveling up your styler might satisfy those who would miss leveling up their Pokemon. The only slightly annoying factor here is that the quests must be taken one at a time, forcing you to backtrack to clients before taking on new quests instead of just queuing up quests as you encounter them.

The world of Almia is presented with vivid 2D graphics and large detailed sprites. Each area you travel to has a distinct feel, with colors that pop off the screen and its own collection of inhabitants. Though this variety is primarily due to the predictable use of lava, snow, desert, and underwater environments, the world is no less pleasing to the eye. What should have been improved upon are the Pokemon calls that you hear whenever you pass by them. They reek of 8-bit audio, and hearing a Ninetails or Shieldon in this game roar at you is incredibly grating, though not in the intimidating way a roar should be.
Nintendo hasn't made sweeping improvements on the original Pokemon Ranger, which is a slight disappointment given the two-year gap between entries. All told, however, the improvements do make for a more complete experience overall that provides the same invigorating mechanics introduced in the first game. With a meaty adventure that could easily take you past 25 hours, the return of downloadable side quests thanks to the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, and the same core that made the original game so refreshing, Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia is a worthy addition to the series.

By Austin Shau, GameSpot

Phantasy Star Zero Impressions

Sega's Phantasy Star franchise is finally making its way to the DS, and we've got the first peek straight from Sega's TGS stage show.

TOKYO--It seemed like just a matter of time before Sega would make a Phantasy Star game for the Nintendo DS, and today, the game was finally announced. Titled Phantasy Star Zero, the game will be hitting Japan on December 25. To give details on the game and explain how its name came about, producer Satoshi Sakai appeared on stage at the 2008 Tokyo Game Show.
"With the decision to make a completely new Phantasy Star, we've started out with a new world view, storyline, and characters. We decided to give the game this name to symbolize that we're starting back from the roots again", said Sakai.
Sakai then showed off some gameplay to explain the new systems in Phantasy Star Zero. Communication has always been a big point in the series, and with the shift to the DS, the game takes advantage of the hardware's stylus with its new "Visual Chat" system. Rather than type messages to comrades, you'll be able to write and draw on the bottom screen much like Pictochat. It'll then appear on dialogue balloons in the main top screen where the game is played. The drawings can be recorded onto shortcuts, so you don't have to rush on your writings in the middle of battles. The game also allows you to copy other users, which will come convenient if you're not good at drawing.
Phantasy Star Zero takes place on two locations: the Earth and the Moon. You start off the game by creating your character out of three races (Newman, Human, Cast) and their three professions types. Sakai commented that there are a total of 14 different types of characters you can make. Similarly to previous Phantasy Star games, you can customize the look of your character using different body parts. Up to three characters can be saved.
Phantasy Star Zero will feature three gaming modes. Story mode allows you to enjoy the game alone. A demo showed a scene from the flourishing Dairon City, where the main character meets up with his/her teacher, Kai. The game plays in 3D like previous Phantasy Star installments, but the conversation scenes are in illustrated 2D graphics, and there are also anime clips in event scenes.
In wireless communication mode, you can play with three other friends close by and go on missions, communicating with each other using visual chat.
In Wi-Fi mode, you can select three ways to play online: friends play, free play, and single play. Friends play, as the name suggests, will allow you to type in friends codes and play with people you know; visual chat is supported. Free play lets you play with other users though matchmaking; but communication will be done through preset sentences rather than visual chat. Details weren't given on the single play.
In terms of battle, Phantasy Star Zero seems similar to previous installments albeit with some new additions. The game adopts the action palette system from Phantasy Star Online, and you can customize your own actions. As a new element, you can now dodge roll to quickly evade enemy attacks. There's also a charge attack, where you can hold on to your attack button before letting go to pull off powerful photon arts that consumes some photon points. Charging also works for technique moves.
According to Sakai, Phantasy Star Zero will have more than 300 weapons. This time, there will be shields that allow the player to defend against enemy attacks with the use of photon points. There's also a new weapon category called gun slash. As a hybrid weapon, it acts as a sword in close range and as a gun from a distance. Stay tuned for more on the game as it becomes available.

By Hirohiko Niizumi, GameSpot